Her Boys Now
by Jessie Marsh
Summary: After the first case with DCI Miller.


HER BOYS NOW

"Just who the hell does she think she is?" Gerry fumed at the end of their first case with DCI Sasha Miller. "I mean, sure, we got there in the end but still…sneaking about them allotments…"

"Be fair, we were sneaking around the allotments first," Danny Griffin commented idly as he lifted his drink to his lips.

"Aye, Danny here was first at the gate," Steve agreed. "Although, I'd be tempted to say she were already there."

"But she's just so…" Gerry attempted to continue. He was furious with their new boss. He couldn't bring himself to call Sasha 'guv', he found it very hard to understand how she'd made it to the helm of UCOS while her leadership seemed so vague, and she wasn't Sandra. The only good thing, as far as he could see so far, was that DAC Strickland had applied his (Gerry's) stipulations to the appointment of their new boss: fit, leggy and blonde.

"I don't know," Danny wasn't even trying to placate the UCOS stalwart anymore. He'd made his own observations; which he wasn't inclined to share. She wasn't Sandra, but then, he'd hardly known Sandra. Of whom he'd also made his observations; which he didn't dare share. "Three days is a good clear up rate."

"Yeah but…" Gerry tried to order his argument to the other two, neither of whom looked particularly interested in his ranting.

"Even for us," Steve pointedly agreed with Danny's point and shot Gerry a silencing glance. He'd gotten the feeling very certainly since Danny had arrived that while Gerry had taken to looking out for Sandra, he was going to have to keep a hold on Gerry's reins. Previously, it seemed to him, Jack Halford must have held some quiet authority over all of them. Gerry had ostentatiously stepped into the role of senior investigator; though his maturity was questionable at times. Well, he'd rather work with Gerry anyway. Danny was weird and Sasha was odd. Sandra had been a lot more game. Not that he'd admit that out loud. Things always had a way of working round from first impressions. Danny was surprising him everyday.

"Whatever," Gerry gave in. "Anyway, I'm off."

"Eh?" Steve looked at his watch, apparently not only Danny could surprise him. "It's only seven, you on a promise?"

"Maybe," Gerry responded cryptically with a wink. "I'll see you boys tomorrow, take it easy."

"Aye, you too," Steve replied to his mate's retreating back.

He looked at Danny, who shrugged. "Another?"

~~{~~{

"Sorry I'm a bit late," Gerry apologised as the door opened and he offered the lady who held it a kiss on the cheek, handing to her a bottle of the English red wine brewed by the Italian who they'd just arrested for a murder committed twenty-five years ago.

"Don't worry about it," Esther replied with her trademark smile, stepping to one side. "The pie's only just in the oven anyway. Come in, he's through here…somewhere."

Gerry peered through the living room door as he shrugged off his coat and hung it on the hook which had become his own at the Lane's. "Blimey…" he whistled as he took in the piles of books, papers and files which seemed to have replaced the carpet in the Lane living room. "You have been busy!"

"You have no idea," Esther smiled as she picked a path through to the kitchen. "Brian! Gerry's here!"

"Wha…? Oh, right. Damn! Hiya Gerry!"

Gerry's eyebrows raised as the series of utterances in a familiar Northern accent accompanied a landslide of newspapers in the far corner where the television stood. A pair of familiar hands appeared in a vain attempt to prevent the utter annihilation of whatever order had been previously established as his friend's head emerged over the mounds.

"Scampi, no!" the Lanes cried in unison as their lively cocker spaniel took his opportunity to leap over the chaos of the room to greet their visitor.

Gerry laughed as he bent to ruffle the dog's ears. "Hiya mate!"

"What did you let him in here for!" Brian turned on his wife in anguish as Scampi's wagging tail continued to disturb the cloth of newspaper pages on the coffee table.

"Why did you lock him out?" she returned equally as fiercely quelling any threat of an argument as Brian failed to answer her. "Make Gerry a drink and for goodness sake find him somewhere to sit!"

Brian waited for his wife to disappear into the kitchen to attend to dinner before rolling his eyes. He trod carefully over the books he had taken out of the library that afternoon and arranged the box files on the sofa into a single pile.

"You alright then mate?" Gerry asked. "Keeping busy?"

"I thought I was retiring!" Brian grumbled. "Then Esther decides we're going to be neighbourhood watch detectives!"

"You love it," Esther re-emerged in the archway between the kitchen and living room. "I've set the table in the dining room," she added to Gerry. "It's about the only tidy place in the house at the moment!"

"That's alright," Gerry grinned, taking a seat where Brian had just cleared and batting the dog's paws off of the cushion.

"Beer?" Brian asked. Although he was resolutely off the booze; they'd taken to keeping a few bottles in the fridge for when Gerry came round which was a relatively regular occurrence ever since Brian had left UCOS.

"Yeah, thanks," Gerry agreed. "Is Sandra not here yet?"

"No," Esther explained gently, knowing how much Gerry would have been looking forward to seeing his former boss after a fortnight apart. "She rang about ten minutes ago, she's on a flight to Italy at nine. Something to do with a case."

Gerry let out a small laugh. "Some girls have all the luck, so what are you two looking at? Hiking?"

Esther and Brian exchanged a brief and silent look, Esther nodded to Brian to get the drinks and stepped toward the sofa. "Yes. It's a really interesting phenomena, do you know how many people go missing whilst hiking every year?"

Gerry shook his head and let Esther tell him. Of course Sandra was on a flight. She was an international star now, not just his.

"So what's the new boss like?" Brian asked as he returned, passing Gerry a bottle of beer and shoeing Scampi off of the armchair. "Anyone we know?"

"Pah! Hardly!" Gerry scoffed. He sighed. "Forty-ish, DCI, blonde. Sasha, she's called."

"Hmm, forty-ish and blonde. I didn't realise you'd been involved in the selection process," Esther teased slightly as she stood up from the perch she had made on the arm of the sofa. She squeezed Gerry's shoulder lightly as she disappeared out of the room in answer to the buzzer on the oven. She was fairly sure that the conversation would run as a thread throughout the evening just as Sandra's new job had occupied the two men's gossiping on previous occasions in the last two weeks. She could hear them well enough as she checked on the pie and drained the carrots.

Despite her initial misgivings about UCOS, which recent events had proved sensible; Esther was glad that her husband had been stubborn enough not to listen to her. Jack, Gerry and Sandra had become her friends as much as his. Even Steve had been round for dinner since Brian had left. It hadn't been a smooth ride throughout, but she and Brian had come out of the last decade stronger than ever with two firm friendships forged. Sandra had called them the day she resigned UCOS to tell them; and to promise that she'd stay in touch wherever she was. It touched Esther's heart to know that her Brian had managed to make such true friendships after so many years of solitude. As she listened to the two men dissect the behaviours of Gerry's new boss she heard the undertone of loss. Both of them, well all of them if Jack and herself were included, respected and loved Sandra Pullman. Without her, it was different. Esther caught sight of herself in the mirror as she cleared the table, Brian and Gerry in the background, and knew: they were her boys now.


End file.
